On cold winter days or gloomy wet ones, on scorching summer afternoons and snowy chilly ones, staying indoors becomes essential. Bad weather blues make the kids and adults alike cranky and staying indoors all through the days means a major cut in all kinds of outdoor activities that you usually rely on to keep the family busy.

If space and budget permits the lucky few have their very own game rooms with tons of awesome options like prince table tennis tables, pool tables, foosball and more that can be super ways to kill hours of leisure time with friends and family. However, if that isn’t a feasible option for you you cant get some awesome indoor games that require less space and money and a healthy dose of creativity.

Here are a few ideas to keep you and the family busy on days when the weather just won’t let up. Let play time begin –

Scavenger Hunt  – Searching for hidden treasures while you have the permission to make a mess around the house… what could be more fun really?! Scavenger hunts are one of the best ways to beat boredom indoors and keep everybody off the TV or computer and up and active on their feet. Set up a super enjoyable treasure hunt inside the home based on the ages of the kids, the amount of time you have and how elaborate you want the game and the prizes to be. Sneak hidden clues all around the home in fun places that the big and smaller ones can easily reach and access without hurting themselves. You can even have an awesome theme and play dress up while you do so!

Innovative coloring games – Remember those days when of your childhood where you could spend hours happily drawing and playing with your crayons? Make coloring fun again by downloading cool themed, funky or even educational coloring designs and pages available online. You can customize each picture as per whose interested and how old they are. Better yet tack up a giant blank sheet of paper on the wall and let everyone have a super exciting wall graffiti session that lets them exercise their artistic muscles as they see fit!

Small indoor games – While prince table tennis tables may be out of reach, how about amassing a small collection of smaller and less expensive indoor games and organize a fun game night with yummy munchies and treats to boot. Dart boards, board games, backgammon, carom, poker and a plethora of other games don’t require as much of a budget and space. These kinds of indoor games are excellent at building different kinds of skill sets in adults and kids alike and so much more social than popping in a video and zoning out in front of the TV. The fostering of an atmosphere of  healthy competition and camaraderie is great too!

Storytelling with a twist – Cozy days at home regaling fairy tales and beloved stories have always been a family favorite. Now how about using it as a way to help your children exercise their mental muscles and sharpen decision making skills. Use well known stories as a base and ask them what they would in a particular situation. It helps children think quicker and lead to some amazingly humorous and surprising new stories of your own.

Don’t let bad weather get you and the kids down. Play time can be made fascinating and engaging on almost every budget with a little bit of ingenuity and elbow grease.

Bio-
Haven Bayer is a stay at home mom and has her own blog related to parenthood. Apart from writing, she loves spending rollicking nights with her family playing on their prince table tennis table and a plethora of board games.